Bimini in a 180 BR

[Crosis]

I know its been long said that its too dangerous to cross the stream from Miami to Bimini in a small powerboat or sailboat. Lately however there are many videos of people making the trip on PWCs and in Seadoo jet boats under 20 feet. Are they just better craft? Why cant a 180bowrier do it safely?

 

[trit21]

It can, as long as you the seas are perfect. The problem arise when the storms pick up and you go from flat seas to 3-4 or worse and you are 25 miles from anything. Your boat does not self drain, in other words if you take water over the bow, the water will remain in the cockpit/helm area or in the storage compartment with no way to drain quickly before the next wave hits you. It is not impossible, just not practical. Many small center consoles go but they have self draining cockpits. It really comes down to what you are comfortable doing. I would not go with a small boat like yours as a buddy boat, due to the fact that is the weather starts getting rough I can run through it fairly easily compared to your boat and I wouldn't want to have to stick around to fish you out of the raging sea. Not trying to be an ass, just telling you like it is.

 

[Tonka Boater]

Here you go...this has been discussed ad nauseum: http://clubsearay.com/showthread.php/13604-BR-to-Bahamas

 

[sibnai1]

I know its been long said that its too dangerous to cross the stream from Miami to Bimini in a small powerboat or sailboat. Lately however there are many videos of people making the trip on PWCs and in Seadoo jet boats under 20 feet. Are they just better craft? Why cant a 180bowrier do it safely?

I haven't done it nor am I an experienced sea captain. If you decide to attempt the crossing make certain that you have other crafts crossing with you and that you have GPS locaters and that you follow prudent boating standards (all of them).

From what I can pull out of the posts it appears that it can be done albeit attempts should only be made in damn near perfect conditions with planning and a prudent captain that will turn around rather than forge ahead and risk lives and the craft on both legs of the trip just in case Mother Nature decides to goose yah just for fun!

That said most people state the obvious: "The captain and crew on a larger vessel designed for "blue water" will arrive less battered and more relaxed than the Captain and crew of a vessel not designed for "blue water".

PWCs do not get swamped and sink (like boats can), they can roll over end up upside down and can be "righted" and restarted and one can be on their way in a jiffy.

Most people who advise against trying the crossing in a BR site the height of the gunwales, open bow design and the low position of the engine in an I/O design as the main areas of consternation. The fear is the possibility of a large volume of water ingress (from waves or weather) and the water's nature of ultimately ending up in the bilge area and the pump not being able to keep up resulting in the motor and ultimately the entire boat getting swamped. Apparently (1) one or (2) two rogue waves crashing over the low gunwales/open bow can overwhelm a bilge pump and swamp a BR in (2) two shakes of a duck's tail.

In a self bailing hull the volume of water ingress is less critical because of the inherent design i.e. self bailing. (at least on the good ones, are there any bad ones??)

The critical parts of the engine on an outboard usually sit gunwale height or a little higher (its harder to swamp the engine, I'm not saying that it can't be done I'm just saying one has to be very determined or skilled or both to swamp an outboard engine).

I cannot address the SeaDoo jet-boats because I'm not familiar with how they are engineered/designed, sorry!

I hope my response helped and that you did not have to wade through the other posts on this topic as I had to, it is exasperating to say the least!!

After this post is critiqued, edited and updated I vote that it becomes a sticky, unless of course someone has addressed this issue and made a sticky already.

 

[Crosis]

Your post made a lot of sense.

 

[sibnai1]

Thanks Crosis, where do you usually boat??